Sunday, December 18, 2011

Rollins Contract & Stuff

Ruben Amaro frolics in fields of money, signing players to contracts beyond market value (in both years and money) with reckless abandon. However, the shrewd bastard waited Jimmy Rollins unreasonable demand out (5 years) and walked away smug as ever. 3 years/$33M with an attainable 4th year option at $11M. Well played Rube, well played.

This will be J-Roll's last big contract, as it takes him to his age 36/37 season, and if he continues playing into his later 30's/early 40's it will be on smaller deals. This means Rollins may retire spending his entire career in a Phillies uniform. He also might retire with Hall of Fame credentials. From yesterday's comment section- "If Jimmy is able to start another 4-5 years and finishes around: .270/.750, 1500 R, 2600 H, 525 DBL, 120 TRPL, 225 HR, 1000 RBI, 500 SB, then I think he's HoF material."

Should Howard and/or Polly not be ready by Opening Day, it opens the door for players like Michael Martinez, Scott Podsednik, Kevin Frandsen, and Pete Orr.

Go Get 'em:The Reds and Padres pulled off a monster trade yesterday (Yonder Alonso, Edinson Volquez, and 2 minor leaguers to San Diego, Mat Latos to Cincy). Having to clear roster space the Friars removed catcher Luis Martinez from the 40 man roster. Making his MLB debut last year, he hit .203/.614 in 22 games. The 26 year old has hit .272/.725 in 5 season in the minors, while gunning down 33% of base stealers. Seeing that the Phillies are limited at catcher, this would be a smart waiver claim and stash him at AAA with Erik Kratz and then have him take over backup duties in 2013 behind Chooch.

What I won't understand is what happened (or didn't happen with Aramis Ramirez? The fact that he signed with a lessor team for only $1 mil/year and that he could have boosted our offense considerably. I know there are many JR lovers out there but with Ramirez at 3rd and Polly at SS we would've been even more 'dream team' like. Now we are back more to 'in are dreams they will hit.' How did Ruben let him go?

Aramis Ramirez was hitless in the postseason in 2007, and posted a gaudy .182 average in 2008. His regular season average in those years? .310 and .291 respectively.

In other words, Old Marine, the Phillies won 102 games last year, more than any other team in baseball, with the "in our dreams they will hit" offense. They scored more runs than anyone else in baseball after Chase Utley returned to the lineup.

The postseason is a small sample size, a crapshoot. The Phillies outscored the Cardinals in the 2011 NLDS, just as they outscored the Giants in 2010. They weren't lacking in offense, they were lacking in situational offense. Aramis Ramirez guarantees us just as much as four aces did - which, as we all saw in October, is absolutely nothing.

BTW, in what world can Polanco play SS? If you sign Ramirez, Polanco and his reasonable contract are traded away. The left side of your infield is Ramirez and Wilson Valdez, or someone similar. Not much of an overall offensive upgrade, and a big defensive loss.

it's not a rebuttal. that would require someone first making an argument while he actually should go to the hall. i'm just pointing out that slight above average statistics are not good enough for the hall of fame.

In addition to Jimmy's stat chances at the HoF, he has a few other perks like the MVP, gold gloves, that hitting streak, and will have the intangible of being the leader of a series of strong Phillies teams. Those could serve as a "tiebreaker" if he is on the border at his retirement.